Coordinates: 51°27′10″N 2°35′38″W / 51.45271°N 2.59394°W / 51.45271; -2.59394

Bristol city centre is the commercial, cultural and business centre of Bristol, England. It is the area south of the central ring road and north of the Floating Harbour, bounded north by St Pauls and Easton, east by Temple Meads and Redcliffe, and west by Clifton and Canon's Marsh. It is contained entirely within the Council ward of Cabot.

The historic heart of the city was immediately north of Bristol Bridge, between the River Frome and the River Avon, in the area of High Street, Broad Street and Corn Street. The eastern part of this area, between the bridge and Bristol Castle, was destroyed in 1940 during the Bristol Blitz, but the western part largely survived, and contains many historic buildings.

After the war, the blitzed area was redeveloped, and Castle Park was also created.

The course of the River Frome, immediately to the west of the historic centre, was covered over in stages, in the second half of the 19th century. The area became the hub of the city's tramway network, and was known as the Tramways Centre. It was so called long after the last trams left in 1939, but is now known simply as the Centre.

Bristol ⁱ/ˈbrɪstəl/ is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007. It is England's sixth and the United Kingdom's eighth most populous city, one of the group of English Core Cities and the most populous city in South West England.

Historically within Gloucestershire, the city received a Royal Charter in 1155 and was granted County status in 1373. From the 13th century, for half a millennium, it ranked amongst the top three English cities after London, alongside York and Norwich, on the basis of tax receipts, until the rapid rise of Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester during the Industrial Revolution in the latter part of the 18th century. It borders the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire, and is also located near the historic cities of Bath to the south east and Gloucester to the north. The city is built around the River Avon, and it also has a short coastline on the Severn Estuary, which flows into the Bristol Channel.

A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart of a city.

The city centre is the (often historical) area of a city where commerce, entertainment, shopping and political power are concentrated. The term is most commonly used in the United Kingdom and Ireland, as opposed to "downtown", which is most commonly used in North America. While in most cases, the CBD is within the city centre, the concept "city centre" differs from the Central business district. The latter solely revolves around economic and financial power, while the former also includes historical, political and cultural factors (e.g. La Défense is the central business district of Paris, but is not the city centre).

A city centre is often the first settled part of a city, which can make it the most historical part of a city.

In Dutch the terms binnenstad, centrum, stadscentrum or stadskern are used to describe the city centre. Amsterdam is a clear example of the city centre and the central business district not being the same area. The city centre of Amsterdam is Centrum, the historical heart of the city, while the CBD of Amsterdam is the Zuidas in the south.

Bristol City Football Club is one of two football league clubs in Bristol, England (the other being arch rivals Bristol Rovers). They play at Ashton Gate, located in the southwest of the City. They were promoted to the Football League Championship in the 2006–07 season after finishing second in League One but failed to make a second consecutive promotion to the Premier League after they were defeated by Hull City in the 2008 Football League Championship play-off Final at Wembley Stadium.

Bristol City won the Welsh Cup – despite being an English club – in 1934. In 1907 they finished runners-up in Football League Division One, which is their highest ever final position. In 1909 they lost the FA Cup final to Manchester United, their first and only final. Since relegation in 1911, however, they only returned to the top division from 1976 to 1980 and did not contend for any honours then.

In 1982, Bristol City became the first English club to suffer three consecutive relegations but by 1990 they were back in the old Second Division. Another relegation followed in 1995, when City finished second from bottom in the new Endsleigh League Division One and a return to that division three years later lasted just one season. Most of their seasons between 1999 and 2006 were spent challenging for promotion in the upper half of the Football League Second Division.